NIAPS DimensionsPrerequisites

This document addresses some of the most critical tasks that Application Owners need to understand and implement prior to beginning any workin the NIAPS Dimensions tool. These are all addressed in the Application Owner User’s Guide, but they should be brought to the attention of the Application Owner as part of their up-front educational material provided by their NSLC NIAPS Customer Advocate (NCA). The list below shows where these tasks are located in the User’s Guide and provides a brief description of the task.

  • Initial Setup Tasks – These tasks should be completed prior to beginning work in the NIAPS Dimensions tool. These tasks will be done for each NIAPS Release the product will go out on.
  • Section 3.1.2 Setup the Current Project – Application Owners should always be aware of what the current project is once NIAPS Dimensions is accessed. Each NIAPS release has its own associated project within Dimensions. For example, if the Application Owner wants to join NIAPS 3.0, the Application Owner will have to select the project associated with NIAPS 3.0. Once the project is set, it will automatically be selected each time a user logs on until it is changed. If an Application Owner has difficulty accessing or uploading files, they may be in the wrong project.
  • Section 3.1.3 Setup the Work Area – Application Owners should setup their Work Area when they are initially granted access to Dimensions. The work area is a location on the User’s local drive used to store items that are accessed through Dimensions. The work area will be used by Application Owners to uploada deliverable and when a deliverable has been rejected and it needs to be checked out, revised and checked back in. The checked out deliverable will go to the designated work area on the user’s computer and then they will be able to modify it from there and check it back in. The Dimensions toolautomatically updates the version of the deliverable each time it is checked out and checked back in. It is recommended that the user creates a folder (named after the appropriate NIAPS Release) at the highest level of their C or D Drive to use as their Work Area.
  • Section 3.1.4 Assign a Default Design Part – In the Dimensions tool, a Design Part is createdfor each NIAPS candidate. A Design Part as like a folder where Application Owners place things into related to their product. Application Owners will only have the privileges in Dimensions to add deliverables to their Design Part. For Example, if you are the Application Owner submitting deliverables for the product eSOMS, you will only have access to the eSOMSDesign Part. As you submit deliverables, you will be prompted to select the appropriate Design Part (which essentially associates the deliverables with your application). By assigning the default Design Part prior to working in the Dimensions tool, the correctDesign Part will automatically be selected each time you submit a deliverable item. This will make it easier since you will not have to assign the Design Part each time you submit a deliverable.
  • Section 3.1.5 Update Settings When Checking in an Unchanged File – By default, Dimensions will allow Application Owners to check an item back in even if it has not been updated. This could possibly result in revision numbers that are not truly accurate. Updating these settings prior to doing work in the Dimensions toolensuresan Application Owner does not unintentionally check in the same version of the file that was checked out.
  • Submitting Deliverables – It is very important that Application Owners fully understand how deliverables are submitted into Dimensions.
  • Section 4.6 Submit Deliverables – Each Application will have three (3) subfolders that will contain the appropriate Logistics, Technical and Training deliverables. When an Application Owner submits a deliverable, they will have to select the appropriate subfolder (Logistics, Technical or Training), select the appropriate item type for that deliverable, and ensure that the deliverable follows the appropriate file naming convention for that deliverable. Appendix C, of the User Guide, addresses the folder each possible deliverable should be located in (this is color-coded), the appropriate item type and the deliverable file naming conventions. The Application Owner also needs to make sure the appropriate design part is selected. If the Default Design Part was selected during the initial setup (Section 3.1.4), this will not be necessary each time a deliverable is submitted in Dimensions.

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